Nomads - the life of perpetual travel
Who didn´t dream about a life of perpetual travel at least once? Being free, living an adventure, learning about new cultures, seeing different worlds, meeting new people and making friends with people from all around the world, working where you want and when you want - it´s the ultimate dream shared by many (young) people.
I have a dream of becoming a nomad myself, as it´s difficult for me to stay in one place. Not only because I get bored often, but also because I want to learn new things and grow as a person. It almost feels like the act of travelling is comparable to a river. And living in one place to a lake, or a swamp. Somehow it feels like only when you´re travelling, your thoughts are able to flow freely and they become more clear, whereas staying in one place makes your thoughts somehow "muddy" and you can´t really see things clearly because you are limited in your enviroment and tend to view things through the lens of the specific culture you live in. If we don´t travel, how can we claim to see things truly objectively? We can´t. People who travel often have a much broader perspective - it is comparable to an eagle and a frog. The problem though is, not everyone can afford to travel, and arraging your life to support this kind of lifestyle can be difficult. But, is this type of lifestyle even worth it? Is it doable and sustainable? Let´s find out!
What exactly is a nomad?
"A nomad ( greek: nomas, nomades; meaning one roaming about for pasture, pastoral tribe) is a member of a community of people who live in different locations, moving from one place to another." Historically, there were different types of nomads, defined by how they relate to their enviroment. One can distinguish the hunter-gatherer (following the seasonally available wild plants and game), the pastoral nomad (raising herds and moving them along) or the peripatetic nomad (offering goods or services to the resident population). As you can see, most of these definitions define nomads as people „who don´t have a settled home, who move from place to place as a way of obtaining food, finding pasture for livestock or otherwise making a living.“
The modern nomads though, don´t move for these reasons. The modern nomads move mostly for pleasure. For wanderlust. For fun. Or personal growth. Finding work is just a mean to help fund the travel, not the other way around. Modern nomads don´t travel in groups, they travel alone or in couples and are connected with others through modern communication technologies. Unlike traditional nomads who have fixed annual and seasonal patterns of movement, modern nomads travel worldwide. There are many types of modern nomads.
1-the low-impact nomad, who strive to travel for free or for a very low budget. To help achieve that they use various methods. For moving from place to place they use hitchhiking, for accomodation they use Couchsurfing or wild camping and for food they use dumpster-diving or Foodsharing. This is a way to travel for free. If you are comfortable with that, of course. Many of the people advocating this style of travelling are politically far left oriented and use dumpster-diving as a means to fight capitalism and the wastage of the goods. Some of them also beg for money. On one of my travels, I saw a young men begging for money. He put 3 cans in front of him. On one can he wrote „For beer“ on other „For cigaretts“ and on the third „For hookers.“ How inspiring (sarcasm).
This style of travelling is not very comfortable though, and they cannot afford to visit any cultural attractions (in case they really have no money), unless someone "takes them along". These people often rely on friends or hospitality of other people, hoping they will „adopt“ them and take them with them to places they couldn´t otherwise afford on their low-impact travel. I have to worn that some of those type of travellers also steal. Remember, they are far left oriented, and they don´t believe in „private possesions“.
I have to be honest with you, I don´t like this type of travelling or travellers, as in my opinion they just take advantage of other people. I have tried this type of lifestyle, but for me it stopped at "dumpster-diving". So, it´s a big NO-NO for me.
2 - the money saver - people who work a little bit to save some money and then head for a long-term travel, using their money only when necesarry. That means, they usually use hitchhiking and Couchsurfing, but ocassionally eat at restaurants and can afford to visit museums and other cultural offers. They have a bit better standard than the "low-impact" nomad.
3 - the occasional nomad - occasional nomads are people who live and work in one place most of their time, but occasionally go on long trips and adventures. They most likely have an agreement about this with their boss, or they work as freelancers.
4 - the digital nomad - digital nomad is a person that works on the internet. This type of person is totally flexible, and can work from any place in the world, be it train, cafe, a bench in the park or a terrace in a hotel room, the only requirement, obviously, is WIFI. These type of nomads, if successful, can earn good amounts of money to afford a luxurious lifestyle for themselfs and most people strive to become one, even though it´s not so easy as it seems.
5 - the corporate nomad - a person who works in any kind of physical company and due to the nature of their job, have to travel often. This type of nomad also makes a lot of money and can afford themselfs a luxurious lifestyle. Those people are usually economists, journalists, politicians, teachers, photographers etc.
If the modern-day global nomads have children who travel with them, those children are often referred to as Third Culture Kids (Military Brats or Missionary Kids, in case their parents moved due to their duty in the military or church). I will write more about this subject soon.
As I´m still trying to find ways to achive that lifestyle, I decided to interview someone who already lives it! :) Say hello to Katrzyina, from Czech Republic, who considers herself a "semi-nomad"- half a digital nomad, and half an "occasional nomad", based on my list above. :) Here is her story:
How did you get to the idea of living life as a digital nomad? What inspired you to travel?
I travel my whole life and I never had a special reason to start. It was a natural response to need for new experiences, meeting people, learning new things and learning about myself. I believe that feeling comfort and warm cozy place is not good entirely. I believe that we grow and evolve in situations which are out of our comfort zone. That is what I like. I´ve always spend most of my money on travelling. I became a semi nomad within a process. I've always liked to work on my own projects and take entire responsibility for it, that´s probably the reason why I don´t feel good in big companies and corporations.
Being a nomad doesn´t mean to be on everlasting holidays. People who are freelancers as I am will confirm that very often you have to work more than you would work in a "normal job" cause it is hard to say "No" to new projects - because you never know when you will get another offer and also because you like working on it :D
What do you do for a living?
I am translator (Czech-Polish) and also a writer. I'm writing mostly travel articles, writing or editing guidebooks for main Polish publishers. From time to time I also sell my photos. Is it difficult to stay organized while on the road?
For me not at all cause I am very well organized. I don't know when and where I´ve learnt it, but I believe that good organization helps to travel more and much cheaper. But sometimes you unfortunatelly need to be that "boring" person who says - "Sorry, guys, I cant go out with you today, I stay in the hostel and work." :D How long have you been living this lifestyle?
It is a process when I'm more and more working remotely so it's really hard to say, a few years? What are some difficulties of your lifestyle?
- sometimes it's hard to draw a line between work and non-work life. I don't go to office, so it´s not like I can leave the office and say - "Ok, now I can chill out." So I have the tendency to feel very often that I´m at work too much.
- as I wrote before sometimes its hard to get the understaning from most of the poeple who think I´m on permanent holidays and probably I print money for it :D Sometimes it could be frustrating but I've stopped trying to explain people how it works in reality :)
- many freelancers jobs in my field are not paid well
What are the best parts?
- freedom is much more important than any money
- I am excitied about my life and my worklife basicaly all the time.
- I take challanges very often. I learn new stuff all the time.
- I feel that my work makes sense, thats I´m developing my skills and it´s creative. I am setting the direction I want to follow (in worklife, not travel:)))
- I can decide if I want to travel more. Even if I'm still on the way of finding out how to earn more, I am happy that I know how to travel on a budget so it's not necessary to give away my freedom for money.
Do you ever plan to change your lifestyle or "settle"? Is it sustainable long term?
Sometimes I feel I'm settled inside. I try to have an anchor point (in my case Prague) where I have the most important friends, when I am living many months in a row. I can't have only "hostels" friends,I need real deep relations.
I cannot imagine my life without travelling. So even if I ever settle, travelling will be big part of my life. I'd like to have a flat or a place on earth which belongs to me (in material point of view) but I will never take a loan.
Do you have any advice for other people? Maybe for those who are unsure whether to live this way or not?
Once I met a woman and she was really suprised I travel very often by myself. She was asking how does it work etc. I told her - try with small steps. Go alone by one day. Then for a weekend. Then for a week. The same advice I'd give to other poeple. Try out if it´s for you. It´s not necessary to change your life 100% in one day, as it´s often described in articles.
Maybe your perfect way of life is a full time nomad on the road. Maybe your boundry is somewhere else.
You definately have to be independent, well organized, have some self-discipline and low level of comfort.
You can follow Katarzyna´s blog andwhereareyoufrom right here. If you know polish or would like to read in polish check out her other blog https://askadjestes.wordpress.com/
So, my conclusion is - nomadic lifestyle is definately worthwile and fulfilling. It broadens your perspective, makes you grow as a person and learn new things, makes you more open-minded and accepting of other people and makes you smarter. But it takes work and self-discipline to make it a reality. As, you can see, living as a nomad is NOT living on everlasting holidays (unless of course you are Paris Hilton :D)
How about you guys? What are you thoughts? Would you prefer to live as a nomad or you prefer a more settled life? Please feel free to share your thoughts with me :)
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